NHL needs to be tougher punishing non-hockey hits at the end of games
The discussion continues about the conclusion of Game 4 of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers.
As time expired in Sunrise on Sunday night, Maple Leafs forward Max Domi leveled Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov from behind along the boards. While Barkov was able to skate off the ice no worse for wear, Domi was assessed a major penalty for boarding. On Monday, the NHL Department of Player Safety fined Domi $5,000 for the incident.
However, many believe Domi’s actions should’ve constituted a heavier punishment.
Domi’s hit came in the dying seconds of a game that the Leafs had no chance of coming back from, losing 2-0, resulting in the series in being tied at a game apiece. It raises the question of whether the NHL is doing enough with perceived dirty plays in the waning moments of contests. Some cite Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk’s attempted hit on Leafs forward Mitch Marner earlier in the series as a cause for a larger discussion.
On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli discussed Domi’s hit, and why the league needs to be tougher on similar late-game actions.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I hate this hit. It’s pointless. Time’s running out. It’s done for no other reason than to try to hurt an opponent. It’s in a dangerous spot. I wish the NHL was tougher on hits from behind in this area. Tkachuk went after Marner and tried to knee him [earlier in the series]. Didn’t quite connect. Marner jumped out of the way. I hated that, too, and wish it would have got more attention. These dumb, pointless hits at the end of hockey games, Frank, I am not a fan of these at all, and I actually wish Domi would have gotten a game for this.
Frank Seravalli: I would agree with you, and I think time and circumstance matters. Now, we can sit here on one hand and say that had that hit occurred at the end of the first period that we probably wouldn’t talk about it again, and that might be true. Nonetheless, it was dirty. It was cheap. When you do it to do nothing other than to attempt to injure or to send a message, so to speak, for the next game, I think that needs to be met with a more harsh punishment. … This certainly was deserving of something more, in my opinion, than a fine. That’s what we ultimately end up getting, because as these games ratchet up, as we reach the latter stages of round two and eventually into the conference final and Cup final, the threshold to get a suspension is higher.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…